Broken Prince (the Broken Ones, #2)

Broken Prince, the second installment in The Royals series, picks up where Paper Princess left off. In the first book, billionaire Callum Royal tracked down Ella Harper after her mother's death and brought her to live with his five sons in their mansion in Bayview, North Carolina. Ella, who had been stripping to survive, entered the elite world of Astor Park Prep, the Royals' exclusive private school, and fell for Reed Royal, the second eldest brother, despite his initial cruelty. Their relationship was just beginning when everything fell apart.

Reed comes home expecting to find Ella but discovers Brooke Davidson, Callum's ex-girlfriend, naked in his bed. Reed has a guilty secret: He slept with Brooke before Ella arrived, driven by a desire to punish Callum for the infidelity and neglect he believes caused his mother Maria's suicide. As Reed tries to remove Brooke, she pulls him onto the mattress just as Ella opens the door. Ella sees Reed shirtless beside the naked Brooke and flees. Brooke whispers that she is pregnant with Reed's baby, but Reed calculates that his last encounter with Brooke was on St. Patrick's Day, more than six months earlier, making the claim impossible. After Ella drives away, Brooke proposes a deal: If Reed convinces Callum to propose to her, she will claim the child is Callum's; otherwise, she will publicly name Reed as the father. Reed agrees, on the condition that Brooke never speaks to Ella about the arrangement.

Reed spends a frantic night searching for Ella, who does not answer calls or appear at the house of her best friend, Valerie Carrington, or at the French Twist bakery where she works. Reed and his younger brother Easton, who is Ella's age, use the GPS tracker in Ella's car to trace it to the bus station, where they determine she bought a ticket but exited before her destination. Easton covers for Reed by telling Callum that his gambling bookie frightened Ella. Callum calls his private investigator, and Reed fulfills his bargain by suggesting Callum reconnect with Brooke.

Days pass with no word. Brooke moves into the mansion, and the Royal brothers turn against Reed, sensing he caused Ella's departure. Gideon, the eldest brother, comes home from college to confront Reed, insisting he will ruin Ella. Wade Carlisle, the team's quarterback and Reed's closest friend, warns that bullying has escalated at school under Jordan Carrington, Val's cousin. Reed's frustration boils over when he encounters Daniel Delacorte, who previously drugged and attempted to sexually assault Ella, and slams Daniel's face into a locker. Callum then reveals the PI has found Ella.

Ella rides a bus back to Bayview. Callum tracked her to Nashville through serial numbers on bills he had given her and threatened to pursue her indefinitely, invoking his promise to her deceased biological father, Steve O'Halloran, Callum's former Navy SEAL partner. Ella resolves to endure two years until she finishes high school. Back at the mansion, Easton gives her a trembling hug that reveals how deeply her departure affected him. Reed insists he did not touch Brooke the night Ella walked in. Ella tells him she will never forgive him and slams the door.

At school, students spread vicious rumors and mock Ella's deceased mother's past as a stripper. Callum assigns a Royal brother to escort Ella at all times. When Callum and Brooke announce their engagement and pregnancy, the Royal boys react with outrage, but Reed shows no surprise. Ella notices and confronts him, accusing him of being the baby's father. Reed denies it, but Ella refuses to believe him.

Reed pursues Ella relentlessly while she struggles with lingering feelings. At a football game, she kisses Wade in front of the team to provoke Reed. Reed declares Ella belongs to him; Ella fires back that she belongs to no one. At a Halloween party, they share a passionate, angry kiss before Ella pulls away. Brooke corners Ella separately and claims her appearance in Reed's bedroom was a calculated power play, not a sexual encounter, warning that she now controls the household.

Gradually the barriers crack. Reed secretly visits Ella's boss, Lucy, at the bakery, takes responsibility for Ella's disappearance, and asks Lucy to rehire her. When Brooke and her companion Dinah depart for Paris to shop for a wedding dress, the household tension eases. Reed and Easton reconcile during a late-night conversation: Easton confesses he has blamed himself for Maria's death because she found his oxycodone pills, part of the drug combination that killed her. Reed counters that he blamed himself because his fighting stressed Maria, and they absolve each other.

Val tells Ella that Reed never actually cheated during their relationship. Ella begins to reconsider. Reed opens up about his mother's depression, pill addiction, and suicide. He reveals that Dinah obtained compromising photos of Gideon and his ex-girlfriend Savannah Montgomery and has been using them to sexually blackmail Gideon, which explains Gideon's forced estrangement from Savannah and his entanglement with Dinah. Ella forgives Reed, and they reunite, agreeing to a policy of no more secrets.

With their relationship restored, Callum attends a football game for the first time since Maria's death and warns Jordan's father that Ella's mistreatment will have business consequences. On their first date, Reed and Ella spot Daniel dining with a 15-year-old freshman and warn the girl about his history. At school, Jordan strips a freshman named Rose Allyn to her underwear and tapes her to the building's exterior. Ella frees Rose, drags Jordan through the hallways, and condemns the bullying before the assembled student body.

The danger escalates when a hooded figure stabs Reed at the docks after an underground fight night. Easton gives chase but cannot catch the attacker and reports that the assailant delivered a message from Daniel. Surgery reveals the wound is superficial. Callum arranges for Daniel to be sent to a military academy, and Ella files a police report for the original drugging incident.

Ella urges Callum to leave Brooke. Callum reveals he already knows Reed slept with Brooke and that he had a vasectomy 15 years ago, meaning the baby cannot be his. He believes the child is Reed's and plans to marry Brooke to spare his son a lifelong bond with her. Ella insists Reed has not touched Brooke in over six months, implying Brooke was unfaithful with someone else entirely, and urges Callum to demand a paternity test. Callum relents.

As Reed recovers, he and Ella exchange declarations of love for the first time. Brooke, back from Paris, contacts Reed to propose a deal. Reed secretly visits her while the family is at dinner in Washington, DC, and returns with pulled stitches but refuses to explain. That night, police arrive at the mansion. Brooke is dead, and Reed is a person of interest in her murder. A warrant authorizes his arrest, and he is handcuffed and led away as Ella watches.

Immediately after, a disheveled man appears at the front door. Callum recognizes him: It is Steve O'Halloran, Ella's biological father, believed to be dead. The novel ends on this double cliffhanger, with Reed arrested for Brooke's murder and Steve alive on the doorstep. The story continues in Twisted Palace, the third book in the series.